Pinus montezumae

Montezuma pine ( Pinus montezumae )

The Montezuma pine ( Pinus montezumae ) is an endemic species of the genus in Mexico pines ( Pinus ).

Features

The Montezuma pine is reached from 50 to 80 cm a tree, plant height of 20 to 35 meters and trunk diameter. The branches are large, usually horizontal and form a dense, rounded crown. Young trees have a dense pyramidal crown. The bark is thick with mature trees, dark gray-brown and divided by deep vertical and horizontal cracks in rough, scaly plates. In young trees the bark is reddish brown, rough and scaly. The branches are thick, stiff and red-brown.

The needle leaves are usually in bundles of five, rarely four or six. The shape is variable from thick and upright to lean and slightly pendulous. They are 15 to 25 cm long, sometimes up to 30 cm. The margin is finely serrated. There are two to six resin channels are present, usually four or five. The two vascular bundles meet.

The cones are ovoid to conical, the cone scales thick and with a small upright spine. Two to three cones are standing together on a scaly, upright stem.

The cones are long - ovate or conical, usually slightly curved. Open they are 12 to 15 cm long, 7-10 cm wide. They are light brown and are about two or three on a short stalk which remains along with the lowest scales on the tree, when the pins fall. The cones open to mature and fall off after that. The cone scales are thick, hard, stiff. The apophysis is roughly pyramidal, the umbo is located dorsally, slightly raised, gray -brown and carries a small, sloping spine.

The seeds are small, dark brown with 6-7 mm. The seed wing is 20 mm long and 7 mm wide. The number of cotyledons is usually six or seven.

The sapwood is yellowish - white, light brown and the heartwood. The wood is hard, heavy and resinous.

Occurrence

The Montezuma pine is native to Mexico and comes in the following states before: Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz, México, Morelos, Distrito Federal de México, Michoacán, Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas. Furthermore, it also occurs in Guatemala. The largest contiguous area located in the central volcanic mountain range that draws on the latitude of Mexico city from west to east through Mexico.

The Montezuma pine grows at altitudes 2000-3200 meters under warm temperate to cold - temperate conditions. The precipitation is 800 to 1000 mm annually. At higher altitudes there is snow and frost.

System

The species is very variable and, together with Pinus pseudostrobus transitional forms. Within the species, two subgroups can be distinguished:

• Pinus montezumae format macrocarpa Mart. Cones with longer and more delicate scales
• Pinus montezumae var linleyi Loudon. The cones are oblong, the scales thin, the slender needles and drooping. It grows along with the nominate form and may be a hybrid of the nominate Pinus pseudostrobus.

Documents

Jesse P. Perry: The Pines of Mexico and Central America. Timber Press, Portland, 1991, pp. 110ff. ISBN 0-88192-174-2